Calgary mayoral race tight, Sharp to seek recount after Farkas lead

Unofficial results from Elections Calgary show former city councillor Jeromy Farkas narrowly ahead of Communities First candidate Sonya Sharp in Calgary’s Oct. 20 mayoral vote, and Sharp said she will seek a recount. The vote tally reported early Tuesday put Farkas at about 91,065 votes and Sharp at about 90,480, a margin of roughly 585 votes, with incumbent Jyoti Gondek finishing third.

Sharp said in a written statement that, given the margin of victory is only 0.16 per cent, she will ask the chief returning officer to undertake a recount to ensure the accuracy of the outcome. She cited long lines at polling stations and the pressures introduced by new provincial procedures requiring manual counting of ballots as reasons to doublecheck that all appropriate processes were followed. Elections Calgary lays out several recount options: candidates or their agents can apply to the returning officer within 44 hours on reasonable grounds; a station-specific recount can be requested within 72 hours when the margin at a voting station is within half a percentage point; and a judicial recount may be sought within 19 days by filing an affidavit and providing a deposit to the court.